War and Sars blamed for fall in visitor arrivals

1.30pm

Sars and the war on Iraq could be behind a fall in the number of visitors to New Zealand, new figures indicate.

The 193,900 short-term visitor arrivals in March were down 4 per cent (8700) on the same month last year, Statistics New Zealand said today.

Visitor numbers were up in the first two weeks of March this year, but dropped off in the last two, government statistician Brian Pink said in a statement.

"Visitors may have been deterred by the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus in parts of Asia, and by the uncertainty preceding the United States-led invasion of Iraq," Mr Pink said.

However, Easter weekend fell in March last year and was perhaps responsible for increased visitor numbers then.

Visitor numbers from Oceania, Asia, and Europe were significantly down in March compared to the same time last year.

Significantly, the number of people from Hong Kong was down 44 per cent (1368), possibly because of Sars concerns in the area, Mr Pink said.

United Kingdom visitors were down 3564 to 25,308, Australians down 1645 to 60,743, and Japanese down 1102 to 17,024.

The number of days visitors spent in the country in March was down 3 per cent, or four million, on March 2002.

But the average stay increased one day to 21.

For the 12 months to March this year, visitor arrivals increased 107,600 to 2.062 million compared to the year before.

In March this year, 87,461 New Zealanders left the country on short-term trips, down 13,700 on March 2002. More than half went to Australia.

Mr Pink said the fall in numbers of New Zealanders heading overseas in March this year compared to last could be partly due to Easter weekend falling in March last year.

"Concerns surrounding Sars and the conflict in Iraq may also have contributed to the drop in departures (this year)," he said.

In the year to March, the net inflow of permanent and long-term migrants was up 16,000 on the previous year to 41,600.

There were 98,700 permanent and long-term arrivals compared to 57,100 permanent and long-term departures in the period.

- NZPA